Non finito

I really enjoyed season two of The White Lotus. The mystery was engaging but what I most appreciated was its quality of a short story: the glimpses of lives. I thought of Graham Greene and Somerset Maugham and Patricia Highsmith. Tales on that scale used to be told in print.

I do find it depressing that viewers apparently need the series' ending explained to them. Have stories become so hard to understand? Good luck with L'Avventura. My first experiences of books and movies were often ones of not understanding, and this was part of the enjoyment. I can accommodate the notion that something may or may not be resolved. Departure Lounge was written like that.

This month I read Veronica by Mary Gaitskill, which is terrific. It made me think a lot about plot. There isn't one, really – the book is a narrative of experience, one sharp thing after another. Keeping the reader going requires a lot of detail. Maybe it's a mood, also. If the writer's comfortable with what they're doing, the reader goes along.